Michigan State Preview

This is always a special week as Michigan travels to East Lansing to meet their in-state rival the Michigan State Spartans. East Lansing is about an hour away from Ann Arbor and most fans in the state of Michigan (no matter which college you attended) sits in one camp or the other. This is the 100th meeting between the two schools and Michigan leads the series 66-28 with 5 ties. A little known fact is, there is an under ground group in East Lansing that is called, "MSU students for Michigan Football". As you might imagine this group isn't real popular with the other students in East Lansing. To add more salt to the wound, is "Spartan Country" a store in the local East Lansing mall that sells 1/2 MSU gear and 1/2 Michigan gear. Yes, they sell Michigan gear at "Spartan Country".

The hype meter and trash talk has been very low this week. Nobody wants any billboard material in the others locker room. The closest thing we got was MSU new coach Mark Dantonio installing Michigan game count down clocks all over the MSU training facilities when he was hired.

So what does that mean for the game?

Well, not much. MSU is coming off a road loss to Iowa and is 10th in the Big 11 standings (1-4) only ahead of the 0-5 Golden Gophers. Michigan is 5-0 in the Big Ten and tied for 1st place with OSU. This game is being played in East Lansing and Michigan is a 4 point favorite. In my mind, Vegas and other folks are more worried about the rivalry then the actual game. If this was Northwestern or Minnesota, Michigan would be a double digit favorite.

This will be a hard hitting game from the kickoff and MSU will start fast and keep it close early. If Chad Henne doesn't play, MSU will have a much better chance of winning this game. We expect Mike Hart to play and play a lot if the game is close. If both Chad and Mike are healthy the Spartans have little chance. If Chad is in street clothes and Ryan Mallett continues his inconsistent play, MSU has a real shot.

MSU doesn't run the spread and likes to run the ball, which is music to Michigan defenders ears. The crowd and location is on MSU's side but not much else. Ringer MSU's best running back will have to have 200 yards to keep MSU in the game. I like Michigan big in this game with Wisconsin and OSU up next. Michigan 34 MSU 14

Sing "Hail to the Victors" if:

• Mike and Chad play and are healthy


• Michigan doesn't have a slow start


• Minor and Brown continue to spell Hart when he needs a rest


• 1st down passing calls


• Michigan completely stops the run


• KC keeps his kicking streak alive


• Mario Manningham channels Braylon Edwards


• We leave the game healthy for the next two weeks.

Open the bar and start drinking if:

• Mark Dantonio let's the Sweater Vest's son (who is on staff) call the plays on both sides of the ball


• The Michigan starters go to the local watering hole the "Land Shark" and enjoys a few too many Shark Tanks


• Ryan Mallett is playing from the opening snap


• Any center snap issues


• We sleep walk through another 1st quarter


• Chad and Mike are in street clothes


• The time keeper continues to have issues with proper clock management

Enjoy the game in person or on ABC in pure High Definition at 3:30 est.